Short Stuff: Leisure Suits | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW

[music]. Hey and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh. and there's Chuck and Jerry's here too. sitting in for Dave. So that. automatically just converted this to a. short stuff whether you like it or not. Sucker. converted. >> Very good. And we converted right back. into the 70s accidentally, Chuck, because we're talking about leisure. suits and there's really no other decade. that the leisure suit truly existed in. It's It's an icon of the 70s. I'm just.

going to come out and say it. Face it. >> Yeah, I agree. Uh, and why do we feel. the need to be so silly and short stuff? So, when did we give ourselves that. permission? From the get. >> Pretty much from the get-go. Yeah. >> All right. They have a different tone, which I enjoy. >> Well, yeah. I mean, you don't want just. the same thing. That's crazy. >> Yeah. You never hear me going. converted on a regular episode. Those. are far too serious. >> For sure. They're dead serious. very. dry. >> All right. It also gives us a chance to. cover things like leisure suits, uh,

which, um, you know, the we'll talk. about sort of the precursors that. weren't really leisure suits, but may. have led to them. But the leisure suit. that we're really talking about. obviously is the one from the mid70s, which was, you know, the the jacket and. pants thing with the wide lapels. And uh. apparently they came about really in the. 70s but had a lot of precursors. including the 1960s when hippies were. like h yeah I got to wear a suit. sometimes too but I don't want to be a.

stuffy so I want something a little more. chill. >> Yeah. And so like the the guys um in the. 70s looked up from their lines of coke. and said hey we want to be more chilled. too but we still have jobs unlike those. dirty hippies. So we need to have. something to wear to the office but also. chill. >> So weirdly a leisure suit is or it came. out of the concept of hippies wearing. suits at the office. That was the that.

was where the leisure suit was born. >> Yeah. Uh some early maybe inspirations. Maybe some of these are reaches. But. there had been in fashion history some. other kind of a little more relaxed. suits uh including in 1800's Britain. there was something called a lounge suit. uh that was you know that was a very. stuffy time when uh everything matched. and everything was uh maybe there even. had like coattails and things and this. was just a little less structured little. softer and maybe the jacket and the.

pants didn't match which was you know. like a very casual look at the time. >> right it was the original navy blazer. with khakis. Yeah, probably. >> pleated khakis. >> Yeah. >> So, yeah, that one's kind of like, all. right, you can connect that just in in. that it was like a less, like you said, stuffy suit. >> Yeah. >> You can connect it a little further. Starting in the 1920s, the roaring 20s. in the United States, there's something. called a sack suit. And if you go look. for images of this, you're going to see. basically every type of suit there is.

Yeah. All called sack suits. So, I'm. still not entirely certain what a sack. suit looks like, but it's a tailored, relaxed um type of suit as opposed to. say something in like flannel with like. sharp lines and stuff like that. That's. the best I can explain it as. >> Yeah, agreed. It can get confusing when. you're looking this stuff up. Uh, but. the leisure suit is noted for polyester. and polyester didn't come around until. the 1940s in the UK. >> Yeah. >> And didn't really like get big uh until.

the 1970s in the United States when the. leisure suit came around. And maybe uh. we should take an early break uh because. you have a little bit of a teaser on. why. Well, I don't know if it was named. this for this reason or not, but we'll. settle it after this. >> Okay. Oh. yeah. [music].

[music]. [music]. All right. Uh, this is what I don't. quite understand. When this when the. first sort of leisure suit as we know it. came around in the 1970s. >> Yeah. >> It was manufactured by Lee Jeans as the.

L E-sur. suit. And is that where the name came. from? Like the leisure suit? >> I my two cents is yes. >> Or were they playing on the fact that it. was a leisure suit and they were like. Lee? Sure. >> No. I think that they were they were. playing they it was a play on leisure. obviously but I think they were the ones. who introduced the the word leisure to. the concept of a relaxed suit. That's my. take. >> Okay. I found one ad that I think I.

found for the actual Lee Shore suit. >> I saw that too. >> And uh yeah, it's everything you think. It's it's like a disco stew like guy. >> Yes. Um, it was designed by a guy named. Jerry Rosengarden who was designing for. Lee at the time. And I think uh I saw it. debuted in 1970 on the Lee website, which is um gold. It debuted in 1972. >> Okay. >> But regardless, when Lee um debuted it, remember this is something that guys.

were like, "We want something relaxed, but that we can wear for the office.". And moms were like, "We want something. relaxed that uh is made out of durable. fabric for my little boy to wear to. Easter mass, right?". >> Um and that's that's pretty much what it. was originally released for. It was like. meant to be like less stuffy business. attire/ Easter attire. >> Yeah. And if you've never seen one, you. know, the pants and the jacket match. Uh. it was the '7s, so the pants were were. flared. Maybe maybe a bell bottom, maybe.

just a nice flare. Mhm. >> Uh, the jacket looked sort of like what. you might call a shacket these days. Like a shirt jacket. >> I've never heard that before. >> Oh, you never heard of a jacket? >> No, I've heard of Shaquille O'Neal, but. that's the closest. [laughter]. >> I mean, you've seen shets. It's like a. Yeah, like a shirt jacket. >> All right, >> I'll point one out next time we're. hanging out. >> Okay, thank you. >> Or maybe I'll buy you one. >> Okay, [laughter]. >> so they have wide lapels. The leisure. suit did. Uh some of them did have a.

vest like if you think of the classic. Travolta suit that we'll talk about at. the end that that had a a matching vest. >> Sure. >> And another kind of big uh giveaway was. uh they usually had contrasting. stitching. So the stitching was a. different color than the suit, which is. a look. It is definitely a look. Um a. lot of people I don't want to say a lot. Some people would actually just go buck. wild and wear white patent leather shoes. with them. And you can see there's.

plenty of pictures from the 1970s, people standing in front of their Malibu. proudly wearing a leisure suit with like. white patent leather shoes. >> And um I think cousin Eddie wears patent. leather shoes, white shoes with his. leisure suit if I'm not mistaken. >> He's a great example. >> And then another great example is Oo. from Beetlejuice. when Beetlejuice pulls. his um smart suit off and all of a. sudden he's wearing blue polyester. leisure suit with white patent leather. shoes. >> People actually wore that Chuck.

>> Yeah, they wore that stuff. Uh it never. became office wear like they were hoping. it would. I think. >> I'm sure some people wore it to the. office, but it was kind of frowned upon. It was uh for like a more formal thing. like that. And it was definitely more. for like hitting the disco or going out. or getting together with neighbors and. that kind of thing when you wanted to. look dressy but I guess still be. comfortable. Uh but it was like an it. look for about 10 minutes and then it. became a bit of a joke.

>> Yeah. I think it started to be forbidden. at like nicer restaurants. You couldn't. wear it. And I'm guessing the reason why. is because most people paired it with a. shirt that was well open at the collar. Lots of chest hair flowing out. medallions. Like, it was not it was not. an um it was not an appropriate suit for. the kind of place the Blues Brothers. showed up to get their matra horn. [laughter] player fired from. >> Boy, nice reference. Uh and you know, before too long, it's it's out of style. Uh you know, styles come and go, but the.

leisure suit did not last long. That 80s. power suit came in pretty quickly and uh. you know, now it's just a little blip on. the radar of fashion history. Yeah, it's. a signifier, right? So, like Disco Stew. is definitely going to be wearing a. leisure suit or leisure suit Larry. obviously is going to be wearing a. leisure suit, too. >> Um, but like you said, I think the most. iconic leisure suit of all time was. Travoltas from Saturday Night Fever.

>> Yeah. Uh, that's had an interesting. history over the years. It was purchased. uh for the film from a store in New. Jersey, not surprisingly, for about a. hundred bucks. And very famously, and. we've talked about this before, Gene. Cisco, the uh the movie great great. movie reviewer with his partner Roger. Eert, owned that suit. He bought it in. 1978 for a couple of grand, which was a. great deal because he sold it uh. 199 in 1995 for $145,000.

>> Yeah. Which is worth about 300 today. >> What an investment. >> Yeah, for real. Did you know that Jean. Cisco's favorite movie is Iron Night. Fever? >> Oh, yeah. We talked about it in that. episode. [laughter]. >> I know. Um and many times since then, I. think. Uh so it actually has gone down. in value. I guess people um are less. attracted to kits today because the most. recent uh time it was sold was at. auction in 2023 and it had dipped down. to 260 grand. >> So it's not bad for a white leisure.

suit. >> Yeah, not bad. And the good news is uh. if you ever get invited to a a 70s party. or something, a leisure suit is always a. great way to go uh for men and women. I. feel like the women had sort of the the. pants suit, leisure suit version of this. as well. >> Yeah, [clears throat] like Kate Jackson. and uh Charlie's Angels wore that kind. of thing. >> Kate Jackson. >> I'll go down as a Jacqueline Smith fan. >> Oh, sound like a real fan.

>> Bet. [laughter]. Jacqueline Smith was Charlie's Angels. Yes. >> Why can't I keep that? Are they look alike? Do they look at all. alike? >> Uh, I mean, they were both brunettes. That attractive brunette in the 70s. Sure. >> There you go. So, yes, I'm justified. >> That's right. >> I think short stuff should be out. Ch. >> Let's go. >> Stuff you should know is a production of. iHeart Radio. For more podcasts, iHeart. Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple.

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